Costco's Kirkland Pacs top Tide Pods in detergent tests

For as long as we've been testing laundry detergent pods—those convenient, single-use packets—only Tide Pods have cleaned well enough to make our winner's list. But there's a new top pod in our tests of laundry detergents, and it costs about 30 percent less than Tide Pods. The only catch is you'll need a Costco membership to find it. And if you have kids at home, special safety precautions are a must.

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Kirkland Signature Ultra Clean Pacs, sold exclusively at Costco, scored two points higher than Tide Pods to become our top-rated laundry detergent pod. Both products were very good at tackling grass and ring-around-the-collar in our tough tests, though only the Kirkland was good at removing blood. And Kirkland costs a competitive 14 cents per load, compared with 22 cents per load for the Tide Pods.

While the Kirkland Signature Ultra Clean Pacs earn our praise for price and performance, we do have concerns about its packaging. As we've reported over the last year, detergent pods pose a serious safety risk to children, who might mistake the colorful, bite-sized capsules for candy. Since pods became commonplace in early 2012, there have been more than 9,000 incidents of exposure involving children age 5 or younger.

Consumer Reports has called on the industry to develop more child-resistant packaging. Proctor & Gamble, maker of Tide, responded by adding safety latches to its plastic containers and making the transition from transparent to opaque plastic. The grape-colored Kirkland pods, however, are packaged in a see-through plastic tub not unlike the containers pretzels and other snacks come in. And small fingers will have no trouble removing the flimsy plastic lid.

And so, while Kirkland Signature Ultra Clean Pacs is tops for cleaning, Costco should insist on more child resistant packaging. If you have or care for young children, keep all detergents out of their reach. And if a child does ingest a pod, call the poison-control helpline immediately (800-222-1222).

Hi, Carolyn: Should I be worried that my wife and I have had no sex for literally years? I am guessing it is at least three years. Not even heavy make-out sessions. It just seems that my wife has no interest. I am afraid to broach the subject for fear of a negative answer. We don’t sleep in the same bed anymore either. I am a big snorer and chose to sleep in the guest room. It’s fine because she is a light sleeper and I am happier that she is getting her sleep. I do use a CPAP but it does come off sometimes. The no-sex thing just happened over time. We have both gained some weight but we are not obese — we could both lose 20 or 30 pounds. Is this normal or should we seek help? J.: Should I be

The recent discovery of a missing Alaska teen’s dead body, weeks after he vanished — and the subsequent arrest of one of his friends — has shaken their small community. In mourning 16-year-old David Grunwald, they are also remembering his life: One his teachers tells PEOPLE the boy’s desk chair is being kept empty in tribute to the funny and eager student, who dreamed of being a pilot. “We all miss him,” Zack Lanphier, David’s former high school teacher at Mat-Su Career & Tech, tells PEOPLE.

A teenage driver was streaming to Facebook Live while she drove along a Pennsylvania highway just before a tractor-trailer rear ended her vehicle after midnight Tuesday, killing her and a passenger in a fiery wreck. Brooke Miranda Hughes, 18, was behind the wheel on Interstate 380 near Tobyhanna as she live-streamed her car ride with 19-year-old friend, Chaniya Morrison-Toomey, who can be heard saying “Are you going live?” in the now-deleted footage, according to the Associated Press. Before Hughes could answer, bright lights flash inside the car and sounds of screeching tires can be heard, followed by seven-minutes of blackness, the Scranton Times-Tribune reported.

Pauly D looks totally different compared to his Jersey Shore days! In a new Instagram video, the reality star looks completely unrecognizable, and fans are wondering if Pauly went under the knife! In the video, the Jersey Shore star invites fans to a New Year's Eve celebration he's scheduled to DJ. If the reality star did indeed have work done, he wouldn't be the first Jersey Shore star to change their appearance. Snooki previously admitted to receiving treatments like Botox, while JWOWW underwent a breast augmentation. Click through the slideshow to see the Jersey Shore cast then and now!

Dear Carolyn DEAR CAROLYN: Should I be worried that my wife and I have had no sex for literally years? I am guessing it is at least three years. Not even heavy make-out sessions. It just seems that my wife has no interest. I am afraid to broach the subject for fear of a negative answer. We don’t sleep in the same bed anymore either. I am a big snorer and chose to sleep in the guest room. It’s fine because she is a light sleeper and I am happier that she is getting her sleep. I do use a CPAP but it does come off sometimes. The no-sex thing just happened over time. We have both gained some weight but we are not obese — we could both lose 20 or 30 pounds. Is this normal or should we seek help? —

Hatchimals, the hottest toy this holiday
season, are furry creatures that hatch from
an egg when you play with them. Retailers are sold out across the country, but some resellers have inflated prices and are making a huge profit.

The Eagles are among the 2016 Kennedy Center honorees. The band formed in the early 1970s and helped define classic rock on the radio, becoming one of the world’s most successful bands. But when drummer Don Henley hears one of their songs on the radio now, he usually turns it down. “After 44 years, you just really don’t want to hear ‘em when you’re off,” Henley said. “When I’m off duty, I’d rather listen to somebody else, or just silence. Silence is good. You don’t get much of it these days anywhere. So I’m a big fan of silence.” He may be a fan of silence, but with the Eagles, Don Henley created some of the most popular sounds in American music. Like their hit song, the Eagles seemed really

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Samantha Kelly-Piasecki was riding with her best friends Brooke Miranda Hughes and Chaniya Morrison-Toomey on Monday night when she asked to be dropped off at home. “Brooke texted me asking if I wanted to come back out with her, but I said I had work in the morning,” Kelly-Piasceki, 17, tells PEOPLE. It was the last time the Scranton, Pennsylvania, teen would hear from her friends, who were on their way to the Poconos, according to Kelly-Piasceki.

Hell doesn't appear to be freezing over and it's definitely not April 1st, so I guess this story is actually true. More than 2.7 million AT&T customers will be getting refunds on their bill credits in the next two months, as the Federal Trade Commission settles an issue over AT&T billing for "premium text message services" without the consent of customers.
According to the FTC , AT&T added a $9.99-a-month charge to the bills of many consumers, purportedly for "premium text messaging services," including ringtones, wallpaper, and text messages providing horoscopes, flirting tips, celebrity gossip, and other similar information. The practices continued until January 2014, when the FTC managed to get AT&T to stop the practice .
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The refunds come from a 2014 settlement, which saw AT&T pay $80 million towards refunds. The refund program itself is being administered by a third-party company, Epiq Systems, rather than AT&T.
This is the last step in a long process for the FTC, which has been planning this refund for years. It forced AT&T to notify customers who had been affected by the bad billion practices. Those customers in turn filed claims with the FTC, who examined the validity, and is now processing the refunds.
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A Georgia teen missing for nearly a week apparently was kidnapped by the father of one of her friends, local media reported Thursday. Calah Waskow, 15, vanished from her home in Evans on Sunday. Investigators said 37-year-old Jason Johnson, from North Augusta, S.C., may have abducted her and that she was believed to be in "extreme danger," Fox Carolina reported. "My daughter was friends with his daughter," Waskow's mother, Nora, told WRDW. "That's how he, I guess, got introduced to my daughter." He was wanted on charges including aggravated child molestation, Fox 5 reported. Investigators warned the pair could have gone almost anywhere. Johnson and the teen apparently had been seeing each other